I'm kind of iffy about MLM - everyone I know now who sells got into more to order their own stuff and score the occassional freebie. I used to "sell" melaluca just to order for myself. I would place orders for other people when they asked me about it, I was never about the "sell sell sell" push that everyone else seemed to be. No one ever pushed me to recruit either.

I was also involved with Melaluca to use the products. I have the same experience as you. Nobody pushed me to recruit or sell, and they don't seem to have the vast array of endless meetings that I hear about from many MLM's.

The other night at an event I met someone selling Tastefully Simple (food) products. She had samples which were very good. Since there was a sign on the table, "Start your business for as little as $70," I assume it's probably and MLM, so having read this thread I felt guilty about ordering a dip which I like. But she didn't pressure me to become a seller and in fact said, "It's not for everybody." Which isn't something a really brainwashed person would say.

Also, she had to place orders - which means she hadn't bought a ton of inventory.

I graduated college in May 2008, right before the big economic downturn. I am also not a strong interviewer and was working part-time at a JCPenneys to pay bills. After helping a customer, she said she was impressed with my customer service and asked for my phone number so her husband could give me an interview. I was beyond excited!!

You guessed it - MLM. It was Primerica and it wasn't until well into the stage 1 interview that I realized I had no interest in bothering my friends and family and this wouldn't be a good fit for me. The recruiter guy was surprisingly okay with that in person but continued to call afterwards. He even wanted to talk to my boyfriend as "It's a family decision.: Which I took to mean "Your lack of male reproductive parts makes you inferior and incapable of making big decisions. Please let me speak with your assigned male person."

Soooo glad I got out of there!

My cousin pulled a bait-and-switch amway-type "housewarming party" during college and it made me look at him in a different light for years that he would lie to get us to visit and then try to hard sell us and several others his company's products. I've heard through the family grapevine that he lost BIG on that scheme.

It was Primerica and it wasn't until well into the stage 1 interview that I realized I had no interest in bothering my friends and family and this wouldn't be a good fit for me. The recruiter guy was surprisingly okay with that in person but continued to call afterwards. He even wanted to talk to my boyfriend as "It's a family decision.: Which I took to mean "Your lack of male reproductive parts makes you inferior and incapable of making big decisions. Please let me speak with your assigned male person."

My cousin pulled a bait-and-switch amway-type "housewarming party" during college and it made me look at him in a different light for years that he would lie to get us to visit and then try to hard sell us and several others his company's products. I've heard through the family grapevine that he lost BIG on that scheme.

I met a woman at a professional seminar. We are both civil engineers. She expressed an interest in staying in touch. I was new to the area, so I thought "Can't have too many friends, right?" DH & I met her, her husband, and their young son at a restaurant for dinner once. Then she and her husband suggested meeting at our home so she could show me a new makeup look. They didn't bring their son.

It was the classic amway bait & switch: Don't you want to belong to a Fortune 500 company? You can buy everything you need for your house and yourself from Amway and save lots of money. The more you buy, the more you save. The name "amway" wasn't mentioned for the first half hour.

After they left, my husband said, "Become an Amway distributor and join the NFL - No Friends Left."

Logged

"The first rule is to keep an untroubled spirit. The second is to look things in the face and know them for what they are."

Like I said, I got the impression this guy was a sexist and that my boyfriend was somehow in charge of my employment and could make these decisions for me.

Unfortunately for him, my then-boyfriend (now DH) told the guy some very non-ehell-approved things he could do with his anatomy and hung up on him. It might have been rude but it got the job done! We didn't get any more calls after that.

I only read the OP but felt compelled to say: I have been an amway rep for years now because they have great products, but my uplines have repeatedly emphasized proper sharing etiquette to us: Do not share the Amway business plan at your job on company time, do not try to recruit strangers unless some wild circumstance opens the door for you to do so (i.e. someone comes up to you and says, "Is that Artistry lipgloss you have?? Where did you buy it; I've been looking for someone to sponsor me in Amway!"), and do NOT try to share the Amway plan under false pretenses. I recruited my strongest downline after she tried one a product (some hand lotion that I offered her at work) and she asked me where I'd purchased it because she really liked it. I ended up telling her about my Amway business and she wanted to get her own business started.

Sadly, some people are so desperate to build their businesses that they will forgo these guidelines and do whatever they want to do. Recently, I had a pile of strangers contacting me over facebook and linkedin saying I seemed like a really "sharp" person and asking if I was interested in a new business opportunity. I'm almost positive they were with Amway or a similar business. They are being completely superficial by calling me "sharp"- all they can see, since my profiles are set to private, is my picture, my name, and my status of "Grad Student At University X." If they could see my profile, they would see that I already have an Amway business!!! They are just trying to recruit me because they know I'm a student and are assuming I'm desperate for money and will take on any new "business opportunity."

So, let me apologize on behalf of people like the couple described in the OP. Rest assured that this is NOT how Amway or any other multi-level marketing business is supposed to be run, and that people who run their businesses in such a manner are sure to fall flat!

I once had a Mary Kay consultant friend of mine/eventual coworker ask me to sell and when I said no, she said, "Don't you want to help people?" My startled response was, "I'm a (insert job here). I help people every day."

She was hired in for sales at our company, and then her bosses got complaints that she was selling both our company product AND Mary Kay at her sales meetings. She was eventually fired.

I currently "sell" AVON. I do it for me and a couple of friends just to get the kickbacks and ultracheap samples.

I don't think Avon really counts as a MLM. First, there is a very definite organization to this company. President, CEOs, VPs, Division managers, and district managers. The startup cost is ridiculously low (it costs $10 to start up, and that just covers the cost of your brochures, plus you usually get a ton of free stuff - most of the people I know sign up to get the free stuff and then never sell anything). You do have the opportunity to develop a team of representatives and some managers push that, but it's not necessary. The money doesn't all come from the people below you on your team, and you can do perfectly fine and make a decent income without every once having recruited anyone. And you can't just recruit people. You actually have to sell the product, too, in order to be considered... you know... a sales rep. It's more like a commission-only job. Not much different than selling cars or clothes on commission.

I like love Avon. I buy it all the time. I am one of those golden "order every campaign" customers. Even being a salaried manager with all the office politics didn't kill my love of the actual product.

The other night at an event I met someone selling Tastefully Simple (food) products. She had samples which were very good. Since there was a sign on the table, "Start your business for as little as $70," I assume it's probably and MLM, so having read this thread I felt guilty about ordering a dip which I like. But she didn't pressure me to become a seller and in fact said, "It's not for everybody." Which isn't something a really brainwashed person would say.

Also, she had to place orders - which means she hadn't bought a ton of inventory.

This kind of sounds like Epicure, which is also not a MLM. Order the dips. Like them. Enjoy them. Just because they offer you the opportunity to sell and get your stuff at a discount, doesn't mean it's a MLM.

I think it's important to distinguish between catalog companies and MLMs. With an MLM, you CAN'T make money unless you recruit people. Recruiting people is how you make your money. Catalog companies do operate in the home-selling model, which is different from a MLM.

I sell Epicure Selections, which is a Canadian company that makes dip mixes and stuff. The startup fee was kind of steep, but I buy it all the time and LOVE it. My friends who like it order through me and I do a big order twice a year. The commission is a flat rate (30%) and you don't have to keep inventory. If you sign other people up, you get something like 1-3% on their orders. Really minimal. The bulk of your commission comes from your own hard work.A friend sells Norwex. Norwex is a cleaning-supplies company and again, their product is really amazing. It looks expensive on the surface, but it lasts and lasts and lasts and lasts...like, forever. It's great stuff. And again, the bulk of your commission comes from your own hard work and sales.

My sister in law sells Shaklee. Shaklee is totally a MLM. She hates when I try give her orders because she doesn't get anything for it. She wants me to place my own orders because that's the only way she can get paid. But I don't want an account. I just want the fabric softener once in a while because I like the way it makes my clothes smell.

Another friend works for Primerica, which again is totally a MLM. A friend kept wanting to get together for coffee because she wanted to talk to me about this amazing business opportunity. I asked her for an overview and she wouldn't give it, which was a big red flag. Then, during the interview, she wanted all this really personal information about my insurance and investing, etc, which I thought was really weird because I thought I was going to sell, not buy. I ended up wanting nothing to do with it and told her flat out not to bring it up again. She doesn't like me much and won't get together with me for playdates anymore.

So when you look at whether something is a MLM or not, look at how you make your money and what they are promising you. Endless financial freedom? Get all your clients from family and friends? Probably a MLM. Work hard and get a high commission on sales? Probably not, even if you can build a team and run your own business.

As a side note, I went to a Mary Kay presentation just after quitting Avon. There is a world of difference in the way the two businesses operate. It was creepy. Really, really creepy.